LONDON RIVALS NEED TO SEIZE THE MOMENT AS OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

IT WILL take something special to win the Premier League this season, as it will every year for as long as Manchester City are around in their current, Pep Guardiola-led guise, and perhaps, given the hopeless starts of all three newly-promoted clubs, something even more spectacular to drop out of it

- Malik Quzia

WEST HAM v ARSENAL (7.30pm, Sky)

There must surely, then, have been more than a couple of top-flight managers who woke up this morning to find Championship Middlesbrough and League One Port Vale as the first two names in the Carabao Cup's quarter-final hat and snarled at the thought of one that got away.

Tonight, the onus is on Mikel Arteta and David Moyes to ensure sunrise tomorrow does not bring with it the same regret, both managers with, theoretically, bigger fish to fry but who would be unwise to pass up the opportunity of a competition as wide open as the Manchester United midfield.

When Arsenal were knocked out by Brighton at the earliest opportunity last term, there was under-table fist-pumping among Gunners fans, already fretting by then about how a thin squad could possibly stay the course on all fronts having bolted out of the gate to unexpectedly make the title race's early running.

Perhaps the way things panned out will have moved the dial, but Arteta conceded yesterday that minds dreaming of Premier League or Champions League glory may not be for changing.